John Hutton: The 2009 report of the Armed Forces' Pay Review Body (AFPRB) has now been published. I wish to express my thanks to the chairman and members of the review body for their report. I am pleased to confirm that the AFPRB's recommendations are to be accepted in full, with implementation effective from 1 April 2009.
	In line with the AFPRB recommendations, the basic military salary for officers and all other ranks will increase by 2.8 per cent.. The rates of specialist pay (including flying pay, submarine pay and diving pay) will also increase by 2.8 per cent. The Government have also accepted the AFPRB recommendations on a number of targeted financial measures, including a minimum pay increase on promotion to the rank of Sergeant and Petty Officer of 5 per cent. and a reduction in the qualifying period between each level of longer separation allowance. The AFPRB, meanwhile, has endorsed the improved commitment bonus arrangements.
	Copies of the Armed Forces' Pay Review Body report are available in the Vote Office and the Library of the House.

Hilary Benn: I am pleased to announce my decision on the establishment of the South Downs national park.
	I have carefully considered both of the inspector's reports on the public inquiries into the South Downs National Park (Designation) Order 2002, as varied, made by the Countryside Agency under the provisions of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. In line with the inspector's recommendations, I have decided that the area now proposed for designation meets the criteria for a national park, subject to modifications, and should be managed by a National Park Authority to be established under the provisions of the Environment Act 1995. I therefore intend to confirm the designation order, with modifications, so creating the South Downs national park.
	The inspector recommended the deletion of some areas within Natural England's proposed designation, and recommended adding others. Full details of my intended boundary, subject only to the new additions referred to below, will be released in my decision letter today, a copy of which, together with an illustrative map, will appear on my Department's website. Copies of the inspector's latest report, addendum, illustrative map and my decision letter will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
	There are five "new" additional areas recommended by the inspector, which were not consulted upon between the two inquiries, as well as one other "new" additional area which I believe warrants further consideration/inclusion. Depending on the outcome of these there may be one further deletion.
	Under the provisions of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, details of the proposed new additions to the designation order boundary will be made available to the public to enable any objections, representations and comments to be made. This period will last for 12 weeks. Details of where and when details of the proposed additions can be viewed, and the time limits for the receipt of objections, representations and comments, will be advertised shortly in the national and local press. I will consider all duly made objections, representations and comments and if necessary call a public inquiry or a hearing to consider them. When the boundary is finalised, I will announce the confirmation of the designation order with its final modifications as well as the date for the creation of the South Downs national park.
	When I confirm the designation order, I intend also to confirm the orders made by the Countryside Agency to revoke both the East Hampshire area of outstanding natural beauty and the Sussex Downs area of outstanding natural beauty, to coincide with the national park coming into being. The South Downs national park as now indicated would cover over 99 per cent. of the land currently designated as areas of outstanding natural beauty and it would be inappropriate to have concurrent national landscape designations.
	Following the conclusion of the further steps required to confirm the designation order; I propose to bring forward an order under the provisions of the Environment Act 1995 to create a national park authority. I expect the new authority to be established from April 2010 and to take on its full range of statutory powers and functions from 1 April 2011.

Hilary Benn: I wish to announce that for 2008-09 DEFRA will switch £20 million available near cash resource DEL budget to cover a forecast deficit against its capital DEL control total, in accordance with HM Treasury's consolidated budgetary guidance. Although the financial out-turn for the year is not final, the current assessment of the required switch is £20 million. The movement in spend from near cash resource DEL to capital DEL is in respect of flood defences where the exact nature and classification of the expenditure is determined by the Environment Agency, as they undertake the work.
	
		
			  Change New DEL £'000 
			  Voted Non-voted Voted Non-voted Total 
			 Resource DEL — -20,000 4,050,855 -1,382,984 2,667,871 
			 of which:  
			 Administration budget(1) — — 310,583 — 310,583 
			 Near-cash in RDEL — -20,000 3,829,710 -1,466,278 2,363,432 
			 Capital DEL (2) — 20,000 259,902 358,939 618,841 
			 Less Depreciation (3) — — -96,949 -99,799 -196,748 
			 Total — — 4,213,808 -1,123,844 3,089,964 
			 (1) The total of 'Administration budget' and 'Near-cash in Resource DEL' figures may well be greater than total resource DEL, due to the definitions overlapping. (2) Capital DEL includes items treated as resource in estimates and accounts but which are treated as capital DEL in budgets. (3) Depreciation, which forms part of resource DEL, is excluded from total DEL since capital DEL includes capital spending and to include depreciation of those assets would lead to double counting.

Michael Wills: The Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), which the UK ratified in December 2003, requires states party to establish a "national preventative mechanism" to carry out a system of regular visits to places of detention in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
	OPCAT provides that a national preventative mechanism may consist of one body or several. The Government intend that the requirements of OPCAT be fulfilled in the UK by the collective action of existing inspection bodies.
	I am designating the following bodies to form the UK NPM. If it is necessary in future to add new inspection bodies to the NPM, or if bodies within the NPM are restructured or renamed, I will notify Parliament accordingly.
	England and Wales
	Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP)
	Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB)
	Independent Custody Visiting Association (ICVA)
	Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC)
	Care Quality Commission (CQC)
	Healthcare Inspectorate of Wales (HIW)
	Children's Commissioner for England (CCE)
	Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW)
	Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED)
	Scotland
	Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS)
	Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS)
	Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC)
	Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (MWCS)
	The Care Commission (CC)
	Northern Ireland
	Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB)
	Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI)
	Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA)
	Northern Ireland Policing Board Independent Custody Visiting Scheme (NIPBICVS)

Bridget Prentice: The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) supports the Public Guardian in discharging his statutory duties under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
	The following list sets out the key performance targets that have been set for the Office of the Public Guardian for the year 2009-10.
	KPI1: Lasting Power of Attorney/Enduring Power of Attorney
	Register and return 95 per cent. of applications for registration of attorneyship (LPA/EPA) within eleven weeks of receipt; improving performance to achieve 80 per cent. within eight weeks by the end of the financial year. This measure excludes applications that cannot be registered; for example where an objection is received prior to registration, or where the application is flawed and cannot be corrected. For the purposes of measurement, 11 weeks and eight weeks will be calculated on the basis of 55 and 40 working days respectively. The KPI has been simplified this year to amalgamate the registration and return processes in one target. It has been necessary to review the overall target because of the unexpectedly high volumes of applications received.
	KPI 2: Supervision of Deputies
	All deputyship cases require the allocation of a supervision regime based on risk assessment. Risk criteria include: whether a deputy has been refused credit or is an un-discharged bankrupt; whether a deputy has any financial interests which conflict with those of the client; the value of the client's estate; the relationship of the deputy to the client and any objections which were made to the appointment of the deputy.
	This year's time scale to notify new deputies within 30 days has been decreased for 2009-10 to within 20 working days. This will improve service to the customer.
	KPI 3: Supervision of Deputies— Case review
	A new supervision level of deputies has been introduced following the review of the implementation of the MCA. The four supervision levels are: close supervision; intermediate; light touch and minimal.
	Some 10,000 cases that require intermediate and light touch supervision will be subject to a case review during 2009-10 under KPI 3. Last year the target was to review 4,000 cases of this type. This year's target will be stretching for the organisation but is achievable.
	A case review could be a combination of: review of annual report; carrying out a visit; review of supervision level following short-term intervention.
	KPI 4: Investigations
	Upon receipt of an investigations case in the compliance and regulation unit it is allocated to a specific caseworker. At this point of allocation, the two-day target to assess risk begins. The three-month target to complete the investigation is inclusive of the two days in which the risk assessment and initial action are put in place.
	a) We will assess risk in 95 per cent. of cases within two days.
	b) 75 per cent. of investigations will be completed within three months.
	The assessment of risk includes taking immediate action where appropriate.
	KPI 5: Finance
	Based on the statutory instrument for fees approved by Parliament, we will aim to achieve 100 per cent. full cost recovery.
	Full cost is defined as:
	The total cost of carrying out the provision of services to the taxpayer, less social subsidy/fee remission; financial losses over and above a yearly notional premium; in-year bad debts write-off and exceptional items.
	Copies of the Office of the Public Guardian Framework Document and Business Plan will be available in the Libraries of both Houses and from the website of the OPG (www.publicguardian.gov.uk) from 31 March 2009.

Gordon Brown: The 31st Report of the Review Body on Senior Salaries is being published today. In addition the Government intend to reform civil service severance and early retirement terms.
	The Government are determined to reduce the costs of the civil service. Having achieved 86,700 workforce reductions and £26.5 billion of efficiency savings as part of the Gershon efficiency programme, the Government are going further to ensure that resources are focused on improving key front line public services. As well as delivering £35 billion of Value for Money gains by 2010-11 the Government will bear down on the cost of running Government, with -5 per cent. reductions in real terms in the cost of running Government in each of the next three years. Over the next few years the Government will continue to ensure that value for money is driven throughout all aspects of the public sector to support our drive to continue to improve key public services.
	The Government therefore intend fundamentally to reform the severance and early retirement terms for all civil servants in order to control costs. The current arrangements have been in place since 1987 and are inflexible and expensive. The new terms require departments to reduce costs and will improve accountability and value for money for the taxpayer, saving up to £500 million over the next three years.
	The report of the senior salaries review body makes recommendations about the pay of the senior civil service (SCS), senior military personnel, the judiciary and very senior NHS managers. Copies have been laid in the Vote Office and the Library of the House. I am grateful to the chairman and members of the review body for their work.
	The Government have decided to accept some but not all of its recommendations. It is important in the present economic climate that senior staff in the public sector show leadership in the exercise of pay restraint.
	Senior Civil Service
	For 2009-10, the review body recommended a 2.1 per cent. increase in base pay and no increase to the size of the non-consolidated performance-related pay pot.
	The review body has recommended that the maxima and minima for each pay band should be increased by approximately 2.1 per cent.
	The Government have decided that base pay and the minima and maxima of each pay band will increase by 1.5 per cent.. It has accepted the recommendation of no increase to the size of the non-consolidated performance-related pay pot. Permanent secretaries have already announced that they will forego such payments in 2009.
	Senior Military Personnel
	On senior military pay the review body has recommended that base pay for all senior military officers should increase by 2.8 per cent. from 1 April 2009.
	The review body has recommended that the X-factor (a supplement to base pay in recognition of the differences between military and civilian life) should be paid at a rate of 25 per cent. of the full cash value to 2- and 3-star officers and that an appropriate differential should be re-established between 1- and 2-star medical and dental officers.
	The Government have decided to accept the review body's recommendations on senior military pay.
	Judiciary
	The review body's main recommendation for the judiciary is an increase of approximately 2.6 per cent. for almost all judicial salaries.
	The Government have decided that judicial salaries will increase by 1.5 per cent.
	Very Senior NHS Managers
	The review body has recommended an increase in base pay of 2.4 per cent. and no increase to the size of the non-consolidated pay pot.
	The Government have decided that base pay will increase by 1.5 per cent. and have accepted the recommendation of no increase to the size of the non-consolidated pay pot.
	Ministers
	The changes to senior civil service pay mean that ministerial pay, which is linked by legislation to the average increase in the midpoint of senior civil service pay ranges, will increase by 1.5 per cent. However, given the importance of public sector pay restraint at a time of economic uncertainty salaried Ministers will not be accepting any pay rise in 2009-10, either in their ministerial pay or in their parliamentary pay.